Method of operating explosive-engines.



MTNEEEE P. LORANGE. METHOD OF OPERATING EXPLOSIVE ENGINES. v APPLIOATION FILED JAN. 27, 1909. I 959,951 v Patented May 31,1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

77. 771 I Q-nm P. LORANGE.

METHOD OF OPERATING EXPLOSIVE ENGINES. APPLIOATIONI'ILED JAN. 27, 1909.

959,951, L 1 PatentedMay 31,1910

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES v V NVENTUR 47% 7 PROSPER LORANGE, OF MANNHEIM, GERMANY.

Q METHOD OF OPERATING EXPLOSIVE-ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented May 31, 1910.

Application filed January 27, 1909. Serial No. 474,529.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PROSPER LORANGE, engineer, a subject of the German Emperor, and resident of Mannheim, Stamitzstrasse 2, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Operating Explosive-Engines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clea'r, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improved method of operating explosive engines of that class, in which the cylinder is in constant communication with a hot retort or combustion chamber into which the charge of the cylinder is forced during the compression stroke, to be ignited therein. In engines of this character, in front of the discharge of the canal connecting the retort and the cylinder a cup has been provided against which the liquid fuel was thrown before the compression or during the first part of the same. The air forced into the retort during the compression stroke carries along a art of the fuel, so that a mixture of fuel an( air is produced within the retort, which is ignited by a special igniter or by self-ignition, when the piston is at its dead point. The

lowing jet of gas passin from the retort into the cylinder carries along the fuel left on the cup and throws the same into the air within the cylinder, where it is subjected to an explosive combustion. Engines of this character are objectionable in this respect,

that the whole amount of the fuel is at the stroke, and it is ignited when the piston is near its dead point, while the feeding, of the second portion of the fuel into the cylinder begins lmmediately before or after the ignition and extends over any desired part of the working stroke. The second portion of the fuel, or the working fuel, is fed through one or more apertures and at such a place that it is blown in a state of fine distribution into the jet of glowing gas shooting out from the retort, in a manner which has heretofore been used in Diesel motors. It is essential, however, that the jet of gas shooting out from the retort lasts as long as the working fuel is fed through its nozzle, so that the latter is perfectly atomized. This may be effected, for example, by using a retort of proper size and by providing a correspondingly narrow passage between the retort and the cylinder. Various means may be provided for feeding the fuel required for the explosion within the retort. For example a pump may be provided which forces the fuel into the retort during the suction stroke, the compression stroke, or the exhaust stroke, or a branch pipe may be connected to the rcssure tube of the pump for the working uel, so that a single pump is required in the engine, or a certain amount of an explosive mixture of air and fuel ma be drawn into the retort through a smal suction valve duringthe suction stroke. A simple method consists in forcing the fuel through theworking nozzle during the compression stroke, so that it is carried along 1nto the retort by the air pressed into the same. The working fuel, or the whole charge, is preferably fed into the cylinder immediately in front of the canal connecting the retort and the cylinder, or within the same. But the working fuel may also be fed into the said canal at a point near the cylinder. In all the cases, however, the jet of the WOlkiIW fuel must strike the jet of the burning fut l escaping from the retort substantially 1n a transverse direction and at such a point, that the speed of the jet of the burning gas is sufficient to cause a complete atomization of the working fuel.

For the purpose of explaining the invention, I have shown an example of an engine adapted to carry the new method into effect, in the accompanying drawing, in which the same letters of reference have been used in all the views to indicate corresponding parts.

In said drawing Fi ure 1, is a vertical longitudinal section 0 the rear-part of a combustion engine and of parts cooperating therewith, Fig. 2, is a detall cross-section of the cam shaft and showing the parts on an enlarged scale, Fig. 3, is a diagram illustrating t e operation of the engine, Fig. 4, is a similar diagram corres onding to different loads of the engine, an Fig. 5 is a vertical 1 through the nozzle is. By

longitudinal section of a modified arrangement in which a certain amount of an explosive mixture of air and fuel is drawn into the retort during the suction stroke through a suitable suction valve.

With the workin cylinder at a retort or combustion cham r b communicates through a canal c. The cylinder may be provided with cooling means, or with heatmg means, or means of this character may be dispensed with, according to circumstances. By a pum g the iquid fuel is drawn in by suction rom a reservoir h, and it is fed into the cylinder. through a tube i and a nozzle is having its discharge end in front of the canal c. The pump gis actuated by an eccentric f keyed to a cam shaft 6. It is provided with a valve 1 which, when actuated .by a cam m permits a portion of the fuel drawn in by the pump to flow back into the reservoir h. Fig. 2 shows the cam m on an enlarged scale. It also shows the circle of the machine crank the outer dead point of the working piston being indicated at at. and the inner dead point of the same at For the purpose of simplicity, it may be supposed in the present example, thatt-he engine is an engine working in tempo two. Shortly after the compression is completed, the notch B of the cam m engages an antifrlction roller mounted on a stem a connected with the valve Z. Thereby the said valve, winch before was open, is closed, and the pump forces fuel into the cylinder the rearward stroke of the piston the a1r is compressed within the cylinder, and forced into the retort b, and it carries along the small amount of fuel fed into the cylinder. Now the valve Z is a ain opened, so that the adm 1ss1on of the fuel is interrupted, until the piston arrives nearly at its dead point. Now the mixture of gas and fuel is ignited within the retort, either by the hot walls of the latter or by a glow pipe, an electrical igniter, or the like. Unaccount of the considerable ncrease of the pressure caused by the explosion within the retort a hot jet of gas shoots out at great speed through the narrow passage 0 into the cylinder. At the same moment the feeding operation of the pump is again started, because the notch D of the cam m closes the valve Z. In case of full load, fuel is fed until the crank of the eng ne arrives at the point E and the caacity of the retort b, the amount of fuel ed lnto the same, and the cross-section of the canal c are such, that a jet of as shoots out at high speed from the cane. 0, until the crank arrives at the point indicated at E. If the load of the engine is decreased, the governor of the engine moves the cam m to the left, so that other portions of the notch D engage the roller of the valve stem eeeeei n and cause the same to open the valve and to shut the admission of fuel at an earlier moment. The various points of the notch of the cam causin the opening of the valve 1 at an earlier or Tater moment according to the load of the engine are'indicated at E E515, etc. Instead of interrupting the feed of the pum at B and starting the same at I), the feeding operation of the pump may be continuous. Also in this case the direction of the jet of the fuel is automatically deflected in the opposite direction by the ignition, because be ore the ignition of the fuel the pressure within the cylinder is greater than that within the retort, and after the same the pressure-within the retort is greater'than that within the cylinder, so that the fuel which is continuously fed is first forced in one direction into the retort and afterward in the opposite direction, longitudinally of the cylinder, under the action of the stream of gas shooting out of the retort.

In the diagram shown in Fig. 4 the efiect of the varying length of the feeding periods is illustrated by the different lengths of the horizontal part of the line representin the combustion period. The points at whic the combustion 1s stopped according to the load of the engine are indicated by the same letters as in Fig. 2. The notch B, however, for feeding the fuel into the retort has the same dimension for all the charges. In the preferred construction the said notch is of such a length that the amount of fuel fed into the retort is sufiicient for operating the engine when there is no load on the latter, so that in this case no fuel is fed into the cylinder after the ignition has taken place.

When using fuel of high gasification temperature, such for example as crude naphtha, the compression within the working cylinder must be comparatively high (from 15 to 20 atmos%heres), in order to assure a complete com ustion. In such cases premature ignition of the mixture forced into the retort would be unavoidable, if the compression within the retort were the same as that within the working cylinder. To avoid this, the cross-section of the canal a is made so small, that only a small proportion of the pressure set up within the cylinder is transmitted to the retort. Therefore, the compression within the retort is considerably smaller than that within the cylinder, whereby a premature ignition is avoided. The effect of this construction is illustrated in the dia am shown in Fig. 3. As compared to the iagram illustrated in Fig. 4, which corresponds to the case of equal compression within the retort and within the cylinder, the compression is small in the case illustrated by the diagram of Fig. 3, and the explosion is similar to that of engines of ordinary construction. By reason of the small cross-section of the canal c the, halancin of the pressure between the retort and t e cylinder and the discharge of the gas from the retort into the cylinder takes 'place during such a part of the stroke of the piston as corresponds to the period of admission of fuel in case of maximum load of the engine.

In Fig. 5, wherein there is illustrated an arrangement by which an explosive mixture of air and fuel is drawn mto the retort through a suction valve during the suction stroke, 7) indicates a valve that operates in a housing or casing at the rear end of the retort b, said valve coacting with a suitable seat in order to control communication betweenthe retort b and a fuel admission duct This valve may be controlled by a spring p, or it may be :mtomatically operated in any suitable way. Connnunicating with the admission channel 9 is a fuel duet P which is in communication with the atmosphere so that the fuel passing through the channel or duct q will beinixed with air in suitable proportions. On the suction stroke the valve p will be opened in order to admit the mixturd of fuel and air into the retort b and on the compression stroke the mixture in the retort'will be ignited, as previously indicated, causing a stream of hi hly heated gas to shoot out into the cylind er through the canal or duct 0. At this time, a charge 7 of fuel is introduced into the canal cthrough the duct 5', the amount of this second or working charge corresponding to the load on the engine, and the working charge will he ignited and atomized by the as jet in the manner hereinbefore indicate though in this case, the working fuel is introduced directly into the canal instead of directlv into the cylinder.

What I claim is' 1. The method of operating" combustion engines, having a heated retort or combustion chamber constantly communicating with the working cylinder, which consists in feeding an explosive mixture of fuel and,

air into the said combustion chamber, causmg the said mixture to explode within the combustion chamber solely by contact with the hot walls of the latter, and forcing fuel mto the working cylinder near the discharge of the combustion chamber into the cylinder while the hot gas from the combustlon chamber shoots out into the cylinder.

2. The. method of operating combustion near the discharge of the combustion chamber into the cylinder while the hot gas from the combustion chamber. shoots out into the cylinder.

3. The method of operating combustion engines havin a retort or combustion chamber constant y communicating with the working cylinder, which consists in forcing an amount of fuel into the combustion chamber which is suflicient to drive the engine when there is no load, causing the said mixture to. ex lode within the combustion chamber and orcing fuel into the working cylinder near the discharge of the combustion chamber into the cylinder while the hot mto the cylinder.

4. The method of operating combustion engines having a retort or com ustion cham ber communicating with the wor cylinder, which consists in feeding into said combustion chamber a relatively fixed amount of explosive mixture, causing such mixture to e lode within the combustion chamber,

the combustion chamber into the cy S from the combustion chamber shoots out in correspondence with the load on the en-' gine. Q

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

PROSPER LORANGE,

Witnesses:

HELKAN, Trauma Cam-mum. 

